Posted by Bluewater Network on August 29, 2000
by Russell Long
Standing on the San Diego shoreline on a typical day, it's amazing to see
the astounding profusion of vessels, large and small, plying their way
across our waters. Unlike the intermittent traffic jams on our freeways, no matter what time of day or night, this one never ends. Across North
America, ship traffic is exploding as a result of global trade agreements.
Like big rigs on the highway, the worst maritime offenders are the big
ships -- oil tankers, container ships, cruise liners and cargo vessels.
There are now more ships on the water than ever before. Between 1983 and
1998, world seaborne trade rose 70 percent, resulting in 87,000 merchant
vessels using the oceans as their freeways. Shipping, which accounts for 95 percent of all foreign trade, is expected to triple in just the next 20
years.
According to Bluewater's latest report, "A Stacked Deck: Air Pollution from Ships," oceangoing vessels are the largest, unregulated transportation source in the United States. The failure to regulate these marine behemoths by the Environmental Protection Agency and international agencies allows ships to belch massive amounts of nitrogen and sulfur oxides and diesel particles across the world's oceans and ports -- enough to cause smog at sea.
In the United States, big ships discharge 273,000 tons of nitrogen oxides
each year. These emissions make ships, the main engine of international
trade, a major factor in global warming, acid rain, and smog. New studies
by Carnegie Mellon University show that ships cause 14 percent of nitrogen
oxide emissions and 5 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions worldwide. The
sulfur emissions, which cause airborne particle pollution, have been
implicated in creating low-level clouds that mask human-caused global
warming. This causes an underestimation of actual global warming in models
being used by atmospheric scientists.
Much of the problem is that vessels are fueled by bunker oil, the dirtiest
and least expensive form of fuel available today. As high-grade petroleum
products such gasoline are manufactured, the refining process removes
undesirable chemicals. The residue is collected and sold for ship fuel,
which contains extremely high concentrations of metals and toxic compounds
banned from use in all other industrial applications.
The result? Ship and dock workers, passengers on cruise ships, and people
living near major ports are at greater risk of asthma, respiratory
ailments, and premature death. Since the majority of ship and dock workers
are people of color, this raises serious environmental justice concerns.
Bluewater Network and members of the President's National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council raised these with the EPA in 1999, to no avail.
As commercial vessel traffic grows, so also does smog in urban areas. For
example, in cities such as San Diego and Los Angeles, ships account for up
to 17 percent of all nitrogen emissions during the summer peaks for ozone.
By 2020, ship emissions could be even larger.
With so much at stake, in 1997 a fruitless attempt to regulate ships was
made by an organ of the United Nations, the International Maritime
Organization, but is unlikely to be ratified by the world's shipping
nations. This is due to the powerful leverage that U.S., Japanese, and
European Union ship owners, seeking the lowest possible labor and
environmental costs, wield over the flag of convenience nations such as
Panama, Malta, and Liberia where they register their ships.
Unfortunately, even in the unlikely event of ratification, the EPA projects that emissions from large ships will continue to grow significantly as a consequence of the IMO's extremely weak standards.
Therefore, the clear obligation is upon the EPA to independently regulate
ship emissions to protect our environment, public health and safety,
according to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
Long is executive director of the Bluewater Network, a national
environmental group. A lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Circuit Court for the
District of Columbia this year by Bluewater Network, represented by
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, and an initial brief filed this July seeks to force the EPA to set emissions standards for ocean-going ships.
For more information about Bluewater Network's efforts,
please contact us:
Bluewater Network
Earth Island Institute
300 Broadway, Suite 28
San Francisco, CA 94133
Phone: (415) 788-3666
Fax: (415) 788-7324
Website: http://www.bluewaternetwork.org
E-mail: bluewater@earthisland.org
